Proto socket had unknown holes...

[Ohio Andy]

I purchased a few proto socket sets and one socket in the set has four holes drilled in it in the base all the way through 90° apart




The socket on the left is the 22 mm and the socket on the right is the 21 mm.

The part numbers look okay but clearly these things are labeled differently..

Any thoughts on why there are four holes drilled into the bottom of this 21 mm socket

 

[KnurledNut]

For tool retention working at heights.

 

[decableguy2000]

Tether ready for working aloft

 

[Ohio Andy]

Tether ready for working aloft

Ok, but why only the 21mm... And you need to remove the tether if you want to use it.

 

[KnurledNut]

Its designed for use with pin retention ratchets and accessories. That socket should not have been in a regular socket set.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Looks like something I've seen in aircraft and high-rise service.

 

[Ohio Andy]

Its designed for use with pin retention ratchets and accessories. That socket should not have been in a regular socket set.

Ok, thanks. Now I have 5 things that were wrong in the stuff I purchased from proto in the last two months

 

[cgrutt]

Just guessing the "TT" following product number designates it as tether ready probably was included in set in error.

 

[Ohio Andy]

Just guessing the "TT" following product number designates it as tether ready probably was included in set in error.

Yep, that's the one.

I mean it seems to work. I was just really confused


Concerning thing from my perspective is that I had a very large order and I had issues with 50% of the stuff, give or take.

Two quarter in sets were missing 5 mm socket, A 6 mm to 36 mm combination wrenches with reversible ratcheting round ends had a non-reversible wrench included, one of the two ratchets I ordered was broken, and now this other part that I think will work just isn't what it's supposed to be.

I appreciate knowing what it is, but wow that's a lot of mistakes coming out of the factory.

I never even knew they had tether ready sockets.

 

[dnschmidt]

If these mistakes were made on orders from China or Taiwan there would be outrange from here to high heaven. If made in America, oh well, no big deal. Yea, and we're going to move manufacturing back to the United States.

 

[KnurledNut]

Yep, that's the one.

I mean it seems to work. I was just really confused


Concerning thing from my perspective is that I had a very large order and I had issues with 50% of the stuff, give or take.

Two quarter in sets were missing 5 mm socket, A 6 mm to 36 mm combination wrenches with reversible ratcheting round ends had a non-reversible wrench included, one of the two ratchets I ordered was broken, and now this other part that I think will work just isn't what it's supposed to be.

I appreciate knowing what it is, but wow that's a lot of mistakes coming out of the factory.

I never even knew they had tether ready sockets.

Thats quite unfortunate. One mistake is uncommon, but you seem to have hit the jackpot. I would contact Proto directly and share all this with them. I have no doubt they will do their best to rectify the situation.

 

[PCustoms]

Ok, thanks. Now I have 5 things that were wrong in the stuff I purchased from proto in the last two months

Where are you ordering from/through?

 

[Ohio Andy]

Where are you ordering from/through?

Zoro

Zoro is making it right, more. I didn't find all the errors at once and then I had to package them up and then I had to ship them back.

Some of the stuff. Might have been coming out of Granger through Zorro.

 

[Ohio Andy]

If these mistakes were made on orders from China or Taiwan there would be outrange from here to high heaven. If made in America, oh well, no big deal. Yea, and we're going to move manufacturing back to the United States.

The wrench set that went from 6 mm to 36 mm is from Taiwan

I think that all of proto's ratcheting wrenches reversible are made in Taiwan.

 

[KnurledNut]

The wrench set that went from 6 mm to 36 mm is from Taiwan

I think that all of proto's ratcheting wrenches reversible and not are made in Taiwan.

They still make some ratcheting wrenches domestically.

 

[PCustoms]

Some of the stuff. Might have been coming out of Granger through Zorro.

Aren't they the same company now?

I may be thinking someone else

 

[Ohio Andy]

They still make some ratcheting wrenches domestically.

Interesting. All of my metric reversible ratcheting wrenches that I just bought from 6 mm up to 36 mm. All said made in Taiwan.

The 16 mm non-reversible said made in Taiwan.

Proto replaced a 1-1/4 reversal ratcheting wrench under warranty for me, they did that really quickly, and that said made in Taiwan.

The ratchets give no indication of where they are made, but each wrench was in richely packaged and plastic with a label that said made in Taiwan.

So based on that I just assume they were all made in Taiwan now.

 

[KnurledNut]

Interesting. All of my metric reversible ratcheting wrenches that I just bought from 6 mm up to 36 mm. All said made in Taiwan.

The 16 mm non-reversible said made in Taiwan.

Proto replaced a 1-1/4 reversal ratcheting wrench under warranty for me, they did that really quickly, and that said made in Taiwan.

The ratchets give no indication of where they are made, but each wrench was in richely packaged and plastic with a label that said made in Taiwan.

So based on that I just assume they were all made in Taiwan now.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-wrenches-exist-anymore.543996/#post-11085314

 

[Ohio Andy]

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-wrenches-exist-anymore.543996/#post-11085314

Interesting, thanks for the link... Shape is different than the ones they sent me

 

[cherrybomb]

If these mistakes were made on orders from China or Taiwan there would be outrange from here to high heaven. If made in America, oh well, no big deal. Yea, and we're going to move manufacturing back to the United States.

That will be the day!Start up costs in any industry are enormous. I'm afraid what we have lost,won't be back! I love my Proto,sorry to hear

 

[Dankotaru]

If these mistakes were made on orders from China or Taiwan there would be outrange from here to high heaven. If made in America, oh well, no big deal. Yea, and we're going to move manufacturing back to the United States.

Maybe, but most people seem happy as long as the incorrect order is rectified by the seller, and then many of them will praise the strong customer service and support they received to make it right, regardless of country of origin. It's not hard to find threads where people share an issue with the products bought from retailers like KC Tools or HJE, or from a brand like Geawrench or Tekton, and recieved great customer support to fix the issue.

These were purchased from Zoro, and as someone who buys a lot of stuff from them, I've always found Zoro to have good customer service and make it right. I don't know how much, if any, of this is on Proto or their Dallas facility, but either way I don't see this is an indictment of manufacturing in the United States when the products recieved are still top quality. Just someone grabbed/packaged the wrong products. It's happened to several of my orders with Zoro as well, both with tools and also business supplies. Just never as bad as this poor guy's order.

 

[Samuel D]

Maybe, but most people seem happy as long as the incorrect order is rectified by the seller, and then many of them will praise the strong customer service and support they received to make it right, regardless of country of origin.

What is worrying is that American manufacturers and sellers are among the people who are happy with this arrangement.

No-one is doing much joined-up thinking here. It costs vastly more to fix these problems through chains of barely literate emails and sending one-off packages back and forth than it would to fix the problems at the source.

Tolerating this and the endless fraudulent warranty claims in the US are a major reason for the high prices of American tools.

 

[Ohio Andy]

Maybe, but most people seem happy as long as the incorrect order is rectified by the seller, and then many of them will praise the strong customer service and support they received to make it right, regardless of country of origin. It's not hard to find threads where people share an issue with the products bought from retailers like KC Tools or HJE, or from a brand like Geawrench or Tekton, and recieved great customer support to fix the issue.

These were purchased from Zoro, and as someone who buys a lot of stuff from them, I've always found Zoro to have good customer service and make it right. I don't know how much, if any, of this is on Proto or their Dallas facility, but either way I don't see this is an indictment of manufacturing in the United States when the products recieved are still top quality. Just someone grabbed/packaged the wrong products. It's happened to several of my orders with Zoro as well, both with tools and also business supplies. Just never as bad as this poor guy's order.

Zoro for sure is making it right, although it seems like some people got their paths crossed on some items on how they intended to deal with it. Like I was told they were just going to ship me the missing items and then someone decided that I actually had to send them back but they didn't tell me.. that was an interesting conversation.

I ordered a wright tool
(5) 1/4" Drive 12 Point Standard Flex Socket

And one of the sockets would not flex. Now in this case, it was shipped to me directly from wright tool. Zoro took care of that very well also. I shipped the entire thing back and they shipped me a replacement again direct from the manufacturer.

The odd one was a very large set of screwdrivers that I ordered from Suncoast tools and it was missing one specific screwdriver, and then it had three extra screwdrivers that were duplicates. In this case I was guessing that some large screwdriver sets had fallen and the screwdrivers had come out and since they were just tall packaged in a large plastic bag they got the wrong drivers in the wrong bags. But I have no idea it could have come that way from the manufacturer. But they sent me the right screwdriver and then they asked me to send back the extra. Suncoast tools is another company that has treated me very well. They sent me a package one time that just didn't show up. The tracking showed it stuck at some postal service facility for about 3 weeks. I finally dropped them an email then they just sent me another one. The original package never showed up. So I don't know if they rerouted it back or if it was just lost.

So they always take care of me, it's just the hassle of dealing with it. If I have 100 sockets, I don't necessarily want to go through each one and inspect it carefully for flaws. Anything ratcheting though. I'm definitely going to check very carefully. But with all the flaws I've been seeing from my orders, I check and catalog every item usually these days.

 

[dnschmidt]

They still make some ratcheting wrenches domestically.

Here is my point. When I sold TOPTUL I bought over $10,000 of stuff made up of probably 500 part numbers. Every order was perfect. Not one piece more or one piece less than I had ordered. Everything came perfectly packaged on a pallet that was basically bomb proof. How did they do it: likely with cheap labor and management that would fire anybody on the spot that screwed up. I know of no low end workers in the United States that would tolerate this with the possible exception of illegal aliens like Tyson uses in their chicken factories. The return of manufacturing to the United States is a pipe dream and is about as likely as the cold miners in West Virginia ever getting their jobs back or the steel workers in Pittsburgh going back to the mills, and remember, I'm originally from Pittsburgh. Ever see a picture of the hundreds of people lined up in rows screwing together I-phones. None of us would last 10 minutes doing that boring repetitive kind of work. Why does Foxconn have nets around their factories? To prevent their workers from committing suicide by jumping out of the windows.

People say to automate the factories. That cost billions, which somebody has to pay for, and at the end of the day you’ve only hired 100 engineers and high end technicians to do what 10,000 workers did before. It’s not a trade war when one side has all the cards and in this case that’s China not us.

 

[Ryan]

Gonna close this before it goes off the rails political.